From the Alleghenies to the Hebrides: An Autobiography
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About this ebook
Margaret Fay Shaw’s life spanned a century of change. Orphaned at eleven, she left home and school in Pennsylvania aged sixteen, crossing to Scotland to spend a year at school near Glasgow. It was there that her love for Scotland was born. After studying music in New York and Paris, she returned to live for six years with two sisters in South Uist. Life on the island had changed little from previous centuries, and material comforts were few. But the island was rich in music and tradition, and Margaret Fay Shaw’s collection of Gaelic lore and song are among the most important made this century, while her photography evocatively captures the aura of a vanished world.
Her autobiography is the remarkable testament of a remarkable woman, as well as a powerful plea in defense of a Gaelic culture and world under threat. It is written with a sharpness of observation, directness of humor, and zest for life—and it is also a marvelous record of the twentieth century.
“[A] gem of an autobiography.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Brilliantly capture[s] the twilight world of the Hebrides in the twentieth century.” —The Guardian
Margaret Fay Shaw
Margaret Fay Shaw’s life spans a century of change. Leaving home and school in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia aged 16, she crossed to Scotland to spend a year at school near Glasgow. It was there that her love for Scotland was born. After studying music in New York and Paris, she returned to live for six years with two sisters in South Uist. Life on the island had changed little from previous centuries, and material comforts were few. But the island was rich in music and tradition, and Margaret Fay Shaw’s collection of Gaelic lore and song are amongst the most important made this century, whilst her photography evocatively captures the aura of a vanished world.
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Reviews for From the Alleghenies to the Hebrides
6 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very appropriate for anyone interested in or having a connection with the Hebrides especially although the authors childhood and teenage years are spent at the Alleghenies and that is very informative also. Set way back starting out in the 1920's. Amazing how so many things have altered since then - a good read and some top tips hidden in there.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Margaret Fay Shaw, who died in December 2004 at the age of 101, tells the story of her life - and the title says it all. An American traveller avant-la-lettre, falling in love with the South Uist of 1924, which she traverses on a bicycle. She ended her days on the isle of Canna, across the water from South Uist.